USA > New York > Cayuga in the field : a record of the 19th N. Y. Volunteers, all the batteries of the 3d New York Artillery, and 75th New York Volunteers > Part 19
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Next day, the 2d, the enemy remained inactive in our front. They engaged our pickets, but showed no fight. The forts and batteries gave them an occasional shot. Lieut. Sherwood, of Battery I, across the Trent, had some sparring with a rebel b.it- tery. Ed. Eastham, of I, had his hand blown off by the prem .-
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FATE OF THE BAY SECTION.
ture discharge of a gun. The rebels attacked Newport barracks, towards Beaufort, during the day, and raided the country sur- rounding Newbern. Flame and smoke in every direction testi- fied to their setting fire to many buildings. The night of the 2d was again a wakeful one. Firemen and citizens aided to do guard duty, and 500 negroes were armed and drilled to reinforce the infantry. At 10 1-2 P. M. the rebel bands in front of New- bern struck up some lively tunes and gave the besieged Yankees a fine serenade, under cover of which they began to make off. Next day their pickets withdrew and the whole rebel force of 12,000 men vanished entirely.
The Federal batteries and troops remained on the lines a day longer. They returned to camp on the 4th and 5th.
But what was the fate of the little outpost at Beech Grove? All Newbern felt a painful anxiety on the subject. Lieut. Kirby, on arriving there, had put his guns into the breastwork, and Capt. Bailey, the commandant, had thrown out a line of pickets around the Grove. Various attempts were made to send men through to our lines without success. The outpost knew that it was cut off, but laid still all through the Ist and 2d, hop- ing not to attract attention. During the night of the 2d, lights were seen in the direction of the other Bachelor's Creek out- post going towards Kinston. Scouts came in to say that the rebels were retreating. Next morning rebel pickets advanced upon Beech Grove and a four gun battery was brought up and trained on it. Lieut. Kirby and Lieut. Fleming went out with a flag of truce, when, as they went, two rebel regiments rose right up out of the brush not 200 yards away. It was of no use to make a parade of defense. Lieut. Kirby was sent back with word that the Yankees must pack up their traps. Capt. Bailey surrendered without firing a shot, turning over two companies of infantry and thirty-five artillery men, with two guns and caissons complete and twenty-six horses. The "bay section " was only once again seen at Newbern, and then, a few days later, in traitorous hands, the rebels bringing it down to shell a cavalry picket at Beech Grove. After the surrender of the outpost, the prisoners were marched a few miles towards Kinston. The next day, they reached Kinston and were quartered for a week in the Court House under guard. A court martial was ordered for the North Carolina Union prisoners and the pitiless decree of hang- ing was passed upon them. Twenty-one were hung on one beam. .
The remaining prisoners on the roth were put on cars for Richmond. The officers went to Libby Prison, the men to
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Belle Isle. The latter were afterwards sent to Andersonville, where nearly all died. Lieut. Kirby and the officers were sent to Macon, then to Charleston, and then to Columbia. From Columbia, Lieut. Kirby made his escape November 29th, 1864, in company with Col. Sidney Mead of Auburn, N. Y., Col. Butler and Lieut. Oliphant. While outside the prison enclosure, cutting wood, they made off. They traveled by night, helped by negroes, hiding variously in barns, cabins, the woods, the mountains, often meeting large companies of other escaping prisoners in the recesses of the forests, and finally, after a terri- ble experience of bitter weather and exhausting marches, reached the Union lines at Knoxville, January 13th, 1865. Government honored Lieut. Kirby with appointment to the command of the draft rendezvous at Indianapolis, soon after, but in February he was ordered to rejoin his regiment.
The men of Battery K who were taken prisoners with Lieut. Kirby, were :- Sergeants J. W. Bonta, James Close ; Corporals Lafayette Carr, S. H. Taylor ; Privates Harrison Blazier, Thos. Clark, Wm. H. Courtney, George Conway, James . Campbell, George A. Carr, Henry Genner, S. E. Griswold, Timothy Gor- man, Michael Hennessy, James R. Jewell, Joseph Keltenborn, John E. Leopard, Adam Menzie, W. W. Pease, James Redmond, Melville Smith, Samuel J. Straley, Alexander Shaw, Dennis Shehan, O. S. Tripp, Isaac Volmore, John W. Van Buren, Henry Van Buren, George West, James West, Francis Weeks. After long incarceration, all of these men, but five or six, died in Belle Isle and Andersonville prisons, the victims of cruelty and starvation. They were plain men, but brave and true. They did not die, as soldiers love to die, on the field of glory, among white wreaths of smoke, under the blood-red bars of the starry banner of our country. But their death was equally as heroic.
In this descent on Newbern the rebels captured 280 Federals, and killed and wounded 100. They lost 35 killed, 100 wounded, and nearly a thousand deserters, who came into our lines. And they did not capture Newbern. It was a dear expedition for them.
Gen. Peck correctly judged that the rebels had come back to try, by land and water, to repossess North Carolina, and that this first raid on Newbern was not to be the last. The outworks were strengthened without delay. Negroes, soldiers, firemen, and citizens repaired to the lines with shovel and pick. The curtains of earth, between forts and redoubts, were broadened and raised, and new faces and heavier walls were added to the
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ARRIVAL OF NEW COMPANIES AND RECRUITS.
forts. February 28th, a third each of Batteries K. C, and E, 3d Artillery, were ordered to join in the work. March Ist, the whole of the artillery command, with the exception of park guards only, was called out. The bulk of it went to some new earthworks on the right of the Newbern lines, on the Neuse. The rebels hung around the city all through March and April, exciting a constant apprehension of attack.
In March, the 3d Artillery was reinforced by the arrival of 459 recruits, the fruit of the recruiting services of Major Theo- dore H. Schenck. The merit of this able officer had been re- cognized in November, 1863, by promotion to a vacant Majority. He had been immediately sent home to Central New York to recruit, and the result of- his efforts was sufficiently gratifying. Amongst the new reinforcement were the new Battery D, Capt. Van Heusen, which joined on the 21st; and new Battery G, Capt. Aberdeen, which joined on the 26th. The regiment was thus raised to ten batteries, 1,500 strong ; and that portion of it actually at Newbern, from 450 to 790 strong.
But now two of the best batteries at Newbern, E and K, were ordered to Virginia, whither H and M had been dispatched the previous fall to help Butler in his advance on Richmond. They departed April 15th, taking guns and baggage. On the 18th, the new D and G made requisition for muskets, while waiting for guns, and were assigned a place on the outworks in case of attack.
On April 20th occurred what Gen. Peck had foreseen. The rebel Gen. Hoke with 7,000 men and three batteries assaulted and captured Plymouth, N. C., after three days' fighting, taking Gen. Wessels with 2,000 prisoners. Co-operating in the attack was the celebrated iron-clad rebel ram, Albemarle, which drove our gunboats of wood out of the Roanoke and took Wessels in the rear.
April 25th, Gen. Peck was called to Virginia. Gen. I. N. Palmer succeeded him. Three days after, Washington, N. C., was evacuated by Palmer's order, as, had it been attacked by Hoke and the Albemarle he could not have held it forty-eight hours. And now the rebels prepared for a fresh raid on New- bern, Hoke to attack by land, the Albemarle to come up the Neuse, destroy our fleet, and bombard the town in our rear.
Hoke made his appearance May 4th, and drove in our pickets . all around Newbern late at night. This was also done next morning. The heaviest demonstration was south of the Trent on the bank of the Neuse, where, just far enough away to be out of the range of our Fort Spinola's guns, they tried to plant a bat-
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tery to command the river in their old earthworks of 1862. A small force of cavalry and the railroad monitor engaged them, and finally our gunboats came up and delivered to them a fire of 100-pound Parrot shell, which drove them back into the woods. Heavy firing took place on various sides. The artillery teams were kept hitched up, ready for a start in any direction.
The rebels did not advance on the city in force, as they were waiting for the formidable Albemarle. But that mailed monster never came. On the afternoon of the 5th she started for New- bern, but our wooden navy met her at the entrance of Albe- marle Sound, fought her heroically and drove her back up the Roanoke, where she lay quietly all that summer. She was in October sunk by our men with a torpedo in the night.
Hoke, not dreaming of the repulse of his main dependence in this attack, on the morning of the 6th summoned Newbern to surrender. He asserted that the river and sound was blockaded by his ram and wished only to save the effusion of blood. The officers who came in with the flag of truce were boastful, and, in passing Battery I picked out horses they were going to take after the surrender. The flag was sent back with a stern answer, and Hoke immediately slunk off. He left a large number of freshly made graves behind in the woods where we had shelled him.
The operations of Grant and Butler in Virginia now compelled the rebels incontinently to evacuate North Carolina with the larger part of their force. Their late attentions were now re- turned by Federal raiding parties into the interior, one of them penetrating to Kinston. The latter, June 19th, was attended by two sections of Battery C, Lieuts. Sandford and Starring. It captured seventy-nine prisoners, one of whom was Col. Hoke, brother of the General.
The 3d Artillery still continued to receive recruits through April and May. It reached the Ist of June with an enrollment of 1,700 men. It had ten batteries, all mounted, having fifty- four cannon and over 1,000 horses. The title of the regiment was still the 3d New York Heavy Artillery. Col. Stewart applied to the War Department to have the name changed to Light Artillery, but without success.
July 14th, the 23d and 24th New York Independent Batteries were temporarily attached to the 3d by order.
August 14th, the troops at Newbern attended the execution, near Fort Totten, of six deserters from the 5th Rhode Island, 99th New York and 15th Connecticut. Three only were killed on the first volley. The coup de grace was given by a reserve firing party.
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YELLOW FEVER IN NEWBERN.
The army in North Carolina, in the fall of 1864, was ravaged by an enemy more terrible by far to its gallant warriors, than any to be encountered on the field of battle. July 23d, Surgeon Wilson, of the 3d Artillery, announced to Col. Stewart the appearance in the regiment of a grave type of fever. In August the yellow fever stalked into Newbern. A commissary ship at the lower end of the city was first attacked by the grisly des- troyer, and then the fever leaped ashore, followed up the line of the Neuse, then the line of the Trent, and soon extended into nearly every camp at the Post. Over 200 were attacked in the 3d Artillery alone. Col. Stewart, Maj. Kennedy, Lieut .- Col. Stone, and large numbers of the leading officers had it among the rest. Lieut. Hillis died of it September 24th. Lieut .- Col. Stone died of it October 2d. Also sixty men-thirty-seven of the number being in Battery D alone. They were buried in the regimental cemeteries. The regiment at one time alone had three hospitals. An immense panic prevailed in Newbern and hundreds of the residents left the city for safety. Stores were closed and business in every department of trade was abruptly brought to a stand. Drills were also arrested in the camps. The plague was most gallantly and faithfully fought by the Surgeons of the Post and several of them lost their lives by ex- posing themselves to its attacks. During its prevalence great fires of tar and rosin were burnt in. the camps and on the cor- ners of the streets in the city, every night, to disinfect the air. The disease was at last got under control, and on October 9th, a heavy frost came to forbid its further spread. In order to secure the full benefit of this frost, Col. Stewart caused the stores of Newbern to be opened at night so that a draft of air might pass through them all. The owners of some obstinately refused to open them, when the thing was promptly done with an axe. A guard was set over each store to save it from depre- dation. Another frost two days after finished the plague. By October 29th, there was a general resumption of business.
The death of Lieut .- Col. Stone was deeply mourned in the regiment. He was a brave officer and a gentleman, and ex- ceedingly popular with field, staff and line. He was uniformly kind and considerate of others and yet a disciplinarian. At the time of his death, he was in command of the forts and defenses north of the Neuse. One of the best incentives to good con- duct and soldierly appearance was introduced by him to the regiment, in the early days of the old 19th, and was effective in their promotion. In detailing from the regiment each morning, a detachment to do guard duty that day, one man was detailed
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more than was necessary. When the guard was inspected, the man whose arms and equipments were in the best order was .excused from the guard and had special privileges the entire day. Lieut .- Col. Stone was by profession an editor. He was born in Auburn and located there, and during his professional career, beginning in 1837, he was editor at different times of the Patriot, Cayuga Tocsin and Auburn Democrat. With the latter he was connected at the outbreak of the rebellion. He was also Adjutant of the 49th Regiment, New York State Militia, at that time. After his death at Newbern, resolutions of respect to his memory were adopted by his brother officers. His funeral was attended by an immense throng.
In September, Major Jenny, of the 3d Artillery, was promoted to Colonel of the 185th New York Volunteers. He had been serving for several months with credit as Judge Advocate in the Army in North Carolina. He now ran up to Fortress Munroe to see Gen. Butler. While on his way back, on the steamer Fannie, coming through the Dismal canal, the steamer was at- tacked by guerillas, and he was captured, together with a number of other officers who were on board. The prisoners were marched to Elizabeth, where Jenny made his escape in a small boat. Reaching one of our vessels in the Sound, he was soon safe in Newbern. He soon after went north to take command of his regiment. Capt. Wm. J. Riggs was promoted to Major in his stead.
In October, a piece of good fortune befel the regiment in the form of a fresh accession of recruits, raising it to the magnifi- cent proportions of 2,500 men, or eleven full batteries of artillery, a brigide in itself, one of the most noble commands in the whole Northern army. The 3d Artillery was then in the height of its power. It never had a larger membership than at this time, though in March, 1865, it had more guns, viz : 64.
Among the new recruits was the new Battery A, heavy arti !- lery, under the command of Capt. Russell, a fine looking body of intelligent, sturdy men from Cayuga county, New York. It reached Newbern on the 20th. Drawing Enfield rifles from the Ordnance Department, it became the garrison of Fort Ander- son, north of the Neuse, where it was thoroughly drilled and fitted for active service. Battery G had been on duty in the Fort, but on the arrival of A returned to Newbern.
In order to effect a diversion in favor of Gen. Weitzel, who was preparing to attack Fort Fisher, the Union forces in North Car- olina were, in December, 1864, ordered to make a demonstration
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FRANKLE'S EXPEDITION.
in the northern part of the State. Plymouth, a pretty village, but her houses now full of shot holes, had again fallen into our hands on October 31st, and here was now gathered together for the purpose of an expedition, the 2d Massachusetts Heavy Ar- tillery, 9th New Jersey. 27th Massachusetts, 12th New York Cavalry, Battery A, 3d New York Artillery, and other organiza- tions, numbering in all some 1,500 men. Gen. Palmer placed them in command of that slow-moving Dutchman, Col. Frankle of the 2d Massachusetts, and sent up a gun boat fleet from Newbern to co-operate.
Battery A, 157 strong, led by Capt. Russell and Lieut. Rich- ardson, was temporarily attached for the expedition to the 27th Massachusetts, Capt. Russell being acting Major of the joint command. Thirty men were detailed from the Battery to work a section of artillery, under Sergeants Edmonds and Watson.
The expedition started out on its raid December 9th, the land force moving on roads leading westwards along the south side of the Roanoke, the gunboats keeping abreast of it in the stream. A rebel picket guard was dispersed at Gardner's bridge after a sharp cracking of rifles for half an hour, and the troops camped that night four miles beyond what was once Jamestown. That village had been fired on a former occasion and nothing then remained of it but chimneys. Blackened and specter like, these still stood in the midst of that scene of desolation. The place was dubbed "chimney town." Next day, Frankle advanced to near Williamston, stopping at Foster's Mills, at a bridge over a creek where the rebels had 200 men and a battery, to dislodge them and send them flying to the rear. Our infantry turned out of the road into the fields right and left, under a cannonade, while our section of artillery came up and gave the rebels a taste of its quality and our skirmishers pressed down to the creek, when the rebels experienced a burning desire to leave as stated.
The gunboats were now in an abundance of trouble from the river being thickly planted with torpedoes. These infernal · monsters were many of them safely picked up and disposed of, but the Otsego was perforated by one and sunk. At 4 P. M. of the rith, however, the infantry again advanced. It drove the enemy's pickets, until, about midnight, it came to some cross · roads in a forest, where there was a little sanctuary called Spring Green Church, without a house within a mile of it. Here a halt was made. Frankle matured his plans and the soldiers munched persimmons and drank coffee. Then the 9th New Jersey, 27th Massachusetts and Battery A, under command of Col. Stewart of the 9th New Jersey, led off to the right, across lots and along
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by-paths in the woods, in deep darkness, while the main force went on, the object of this separation and night march being to surround the enemy's post at Butler's bridge, where there was a redoubt, a battery and a regiment or two of infantry.
A darkey acted as guide to the party, 700 strong, under Stew- art. Having sixteen miles to make before daylight, the party marched. as fast as possible. Following a rough cart road through the pitchy darkness of the woods, it crossed a stream on a log in single file ; and ere long, bending its course rather to- wards the Roanoke river, it suddenly emerged close upon the formidable and celebrated earthworks known as Fort Branch, built by the rebels on the commanding height at the river side, termed Rainbow Bluff. In the bright starlight, sentinels mov- ing to and fro on the Fort could be distinctly made out and great guns pointing over its parapets. Had it not been that other · game was to be flushed before morning, the adventurous little band might have dashed into the Fort and captured one of the most noble prizes in North Carolina. But Frankle was awaiting it at Butler's bridge. The men, therefore, turned the barrels of their muskets down that no gleam from them might alarm the Fort, and they held their canteens and the tin cups strapped to their haversacks tightly so that they might not clatter. They then stole forward in silence and carried their flag audaciously through the rifle pits of the rebel work. At length they were led by their dusky guide out to the road leading down to Butler's bridge, and far in rear of the rebel outpost upon it, towards which Col. Stewart now directed their march.
When within a mile of the bridge, the party passed the house of Col. Hinton, the commandant of Fort Branch. Supposing that it was a reinforcement which had been sent for and was hourly expected, Hinton, overjoyed, mounted his horse, and rode down after it. Coming up, just as a halt had been made to re- connoitre, he approached Capt. Russell. Said he: "Never so glad to see you in all my life. I expect fun down here in the morning." Russell quietly said in reply : "The Colonel wants to see you," pointing to where Col. Bartholomew, of the 27th Massachusetts, was standing. Col. Hinton rode on, and, a few moments after, Col. Bartholomew had a hand on the astonished Confederate's bridle, and was breaking to him the intelligence that he was a prisoner.
It was just dawn. We were so near that we could see the rebel camp fires through the trees, and the log huts in which, 400 strong, they were sleeping. Frankle was by agreement to be at this hour in the rebel front. Stewart displayed his party
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SURPRISE OF BUTLER'S BRIDGE.
in line of battle, and moved rapidly forward through the woods and brush. A rebel picket fired on the line and ran. A volley rang out on the morning air in return, and the lads in blue, struggling through the thicket, charged into the camp. The rebels poured out of their huts in the utmost con- fusion, and ran precipitately in all directions, without firing a shot. A number of prisoners were taken. Our line was dis- arranged in the charge, and before it could be formed for a fur- ther advance, the rebels had drawn out their battery from the redoubt, which was a short distance beyond the camp, had har- nessed the horses, and in a moment later thundered across the bridge in retreat. Surely now their capture was certain, for they must fall a prey to our regiments on that side the creek. But no. The old Dutchman let them go through his lines, and saw them fly by on the frozen road in the direction of Tarboro, without lifting a musket at them. Before he could realize or act upon what had happened, or at least before he did, the pan- orama was over. The indignation of the party, who had so handsomely flanked the rebel position, and had so nearly bagged the guns, was inexpressible. Had the 2d Massachusetts but shot the horses, nothing could have saved that battery from certain capture. Battery A lost in this affair private Nelson Mosher taken prisoner.
After the dispersal of the rebel outpost, there was a short halt, to consider what to do next. The troops snatched a break- fast, while Frankle was making up his mind. It then appearing from indications in the direction of Fort Branch that the rein- forcement Col. Hinton expected had at last arrived, it was de- cided to retreat. A forced march was made to Williamston, the cavalry covering our rear and fighting all the way. For those who had been tramping all night, this was a terrible march. The roads were frozen and rough, and so cut up their shoes that scores, ready to drop with fatigue, staggered along almost bare- foot, and left the road imprinted with blood. Battery A suffered severely ; this being its first march, and being already worn out with its previous sixteen hours of arduous exertion. The in- dignation against Frankle was extreme. No wonder that upon the final return to Plymouth, some of the 9th New Jersey boys put a 100-pound shell under Frankle's quarters, to blow him up, though the attempt was happily frustrated by discovery. The troops reached Williamston, thirty miles from Butler's bridge, at 8 P. M.
Next day, the weary expedition marched to Jamestown, upon reaching which 500 were found to be so disabled by cold,
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wounds, frozen extremities and lacerated feet, that they were em- barked on gun boats and sent to Plymouth. What remained of the force, including fifty of Battery A; was then taken fifteen miles up the river to Cedar landing. Here the soldiers did heavy guard and picket duty, their labor occasionally spiced with foraging for chickens, while officers and speculators foraged for cotton. Battery A quartered in the large barn of a splendid plantation, and solaced its grief at the stupidity and incompe- tency that reigned in high places, with a rather more generous fare than the regular commissary provided and by luxuriating at night in corn husks four feet deep on the barn floor.
A few days later the whole expedition went back to Plymouth. There it found reinforcements, among them Battery I from New- bern, four guns, under command of Capt. Clark. Several days of rest ensued, during which the deserted village was nearly pulled down for fire wood. On the 29th, a heavy scout was sent out again to Jamestown, accompanied by Battery I. The boys called it the " chicken raid," as there was no fighting ex- cept a brush between the cavalry and some guerrillas, and the distinguishing feature being havoc amongst the poultry. On the 31st, the chickens having been valiantly defeated, back marched the expedition in a torrent of rain. Battery A returned to Newbern, January 7th.
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